Spinning Wheel Antics.

As previously mentioned in another post, I purchased a spinning wheel in December 2019, well actually Steve purchased it for me as a Christmas present, which actually means me saying I have seen what I want for Christmas darling will you buy it for me, him handing over the pennies and me insisting he wraps it up so I can open it on Christmas day, even though I had obviously seen it. And of course he obliged, with a few moans of course but I let him off because actually I was only testing if he would actually wrap it for me if pushed. 😁

Unfortunately, as I did not really know what I was buying, I found out that it was not actually working.  It is an old Ashford spinning wheel which I brought off eBay. luckily it did not have any parts missing, and with the help of a spinning Facebook group, I brought a kit and managed to change the drive band and the tension band and give it some tlc. 

I had big ideas of spinning my own yarn to sell as kits with my patterns.  I purchased a whole sheep's fleece from a local farmer who sells award winning fleeces, I was expecting something gorgeous, all fluffy and smelling of roses. So when this huge smelly filthy fleece arrived on my doorstep I was slightly shocked.  Still not to be deterred and with the help of you tube I set about washing the fleece.  Lets just say it was not a success.  I split it into manageable 100g chunks, and the first 100g I felted, the second 100g was not much better, and don't get me started on the process of washing it!

The reamains of the unwashed fleece ended up in a pillow case, leaking lanolin for 10 months in my shoe cupboard under the stairs, whenever I reached in to grab a pair of shoes I could smell sheep 😂 I have since gifted it to a friend who spins and weaves and either has more patience than me or more room.

Needless to say I will not be going down that route again ... or will I ... more to come.

I also stepped out of my comfort zone and visited a few Fiber shows around the country,  again with not a clue what I was really buying I ended up with some lovely fiber but I have since discovered my dislike of wools such as Blue faced Leicester, and Corriadale, apologies to those lovely breeds but the wool is too itchy for me.  After lots of homework I have discovered how to blend fibers together to make the wool softer.   But I did have a lovely time visiting these shows, and I met a lovely lady from Cotswold Alpacas who was sat spinning natural alpaca, which fascinated me.  We had a lovely chat and I told her about my lack of success with my wheel ( I have forgot to mention here that in the meantime I had purchased a drop spindle and I had better success with that, although very slow progress, and my idea of spinning my own yarn to make a shawl or something seemed a long way off, I think it would of took me a month to spin enough yarn for a pair of gloves!) Anyway, I ended up coming away with 150g of unwashed Alpaca fleece.  Hence when I said I wouldn't be going down the route of washing fleeces again, chatting to this lady, she made it seem so easy, and she said that Alpaca fleece does not contain lanolin so I was sold.

Nottingham Show When the world was normal.

Skip to present day, almost 12 months later.  My Spinning wheel had been sat in the corner of my lounge unloved and gathering dust, I had spent so much time trying to spin and I just could not get it going, then lockdown hit us and all my plans to take up a spinning class were put on hold, and then I started my Nursing studies and here we are. 

A few weeks ago I just got up one day and thought right, todays the day, If I cannot get this wheel going I am selling it.  Hours later, much swearing and sweating I announced to Steve that I had had enough, it was going back on eBay, I was giving up.  We had a cup of tea, took the dogs a walk, I came back and thought I will give it one last shot, and blow me I managed to spin!  I cannot tell you how excited I was.

So far I have managed to blend my own rolags, and I have quite a few practice hanks all spun.  unfortunately they are all scratchy and itchy because they are spun from the fiber I purchased from the shows, but I am pleased with my progress, and I may use them one day, or gift them to someone.

My 150g of Alpaca fleece has also been dug out from my store cupboard and I have managed to wash it without too much trouble and it looks lovely and clean and ready to spin.  Unfortunately I didn't do a before picture but here is my after picture. 

 I just need to card it.  I have actually ended up purchasing 1kg of Alpaca fleece.  What happened to me stating that I would not tackle unwashed fleece again!  I hope I haven't been too ambitious.  I will post some pictures at a later date because it has literally just been delivered today, not opened it as yet.

Hope you have enjoyed my ramblings,  I have got to go because I am on virtual placement for the next 4 weeks, our Nursing Placement this time has been cancelled due to Covid so I have to be online in a few minutes.

Thank you for dropping by and taking the time out to read my blog. xxxxx